Phubbing—the act of ignoring someone physically present in favor of a mobile phone—is increasingly prevalent in families, and mothers’ phubbing behaviors may have a particularly important effect on young children’s development. Accordingly, this study explores the mediating role of mother–child attachment in the relationship between mother phubbing and children’s emotional and behavioral problems, as well as the role of maternal parenting stress in moderating the mediation effect. A total of 988 mothers of young children (mean age = 4.93, SD = 0.94) were surveyed using four scales, and the resulting data was statistically analyzed. The study found that (1) mother phubbing was significantly and positively correlated with children’s emotional and behavioral problems (r = 0.19, p < 0.01), (2) mother–child attachment mediated the relationship between mother phubbing and children’s emotional and behavioral problems, and (3) the relationship between mother–child attachment and children’s emotional and behavioral problems was moderated by maternal parenting stress. The present study offers fresh evidence of how mother phubbing affects young children’s emotional and behavioral difficulties. The need to reduce maternal parental stress and buffer mothers from its effects are highlighted as vital factors in promoting secure mother–child attachment and alleviating young children’s problems.

Fear of failure refers to the inclination to assess potential threats and experience anxiety in situations that carry the risk of failure. A total of 288 participants were surveyed using the revised fear of failure scale to evaluate the level of fear of failure among college students in Guangzhou. The study found that (1) the results showed that college students' total score of fear of failure is relatively high, and the average score is above the critical value of 3 points; (2) female college students scored significantly higher than male students on the subscales of "upsetting important others" and "losing social influence"; (3) college students who majored in liberal arts scored significantly higher than those who majored in science on the subscale of "losing social influence".